


My only Sunshine

by Khaesii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A bucket load of characters with a bucket load of problems, ADHD, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Fluff, Anxiety, Aphonia, Autism, CBT, Depression, E for safety, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith hates children, Lance has a huge family, Mental Illness, Mentions of Suicide, Multi, Mutism, PTSD, Past Child Abuse, Past Domestic Abuse, Single Parent Keith, Stress, Work In Progress, baby au, college student lance, he didn't ask for this, save him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-17 10:37:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10592265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaesii/pseuds/Khaesii
Summary: "Children are useless burdens that ruin your life."Keith was fairly sure that he'd heard something like that before, perhaps his mother had said it.If he had known that he'd end up like this then maybe he would have taken more heed in her warning."It's such a shame, too young to throw his life away."The whispers were the least of his problems, if he couldn't climb out of this hole he had dug then his life wasn't the only one in danger.But in such a cruel world Knights in shining armour lived only in fairy tales.----------------------------------------------------------------------------Lance wanted a break from this chaos, the children were screaming, his mother was screaming, and he was sure that if he could his father would be screaming, too."That family is out of control, someone needs to teach those children a lesson."It was high time that Lance escaped, but how could he leave his siblings behind when they needed him so much, he wanted to bring his big brother home, because the hole that he had left was too big for someone like Lance to fill.He wanted something simpler, something away from his family so he could grow up and move on, too.





	1. The Sound of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Work in progress.  
> I may edit or rewrite chapters later on.  
> I've tried to set the story in America, because that's where I assumed they were from, but, I am most definitely not American- I've never been there, and I never plan on going there.  
> So if you're American and notice I've used the wrong word for diaper, feel free to yell at me haha. ( ~~That is right, right???...Diaper?~~ )
> 
> Ratings, tags and relationships may change. Rated E for safety.

A baby is crying, it's wailing, it's telling everyone that there's something very wrong - it needs help, after all, a baby is unable to care for itself. It relies on someone else to care for it - it needs someone to save it. 

Someone? A baby needs its parents, where are its parents? 

Keith shields his head with his arms and pushes further into the corner - it's wet and there's glass on the floor, it cuts into his bare feet mercilessly. He doesn't care, He can't care -getting cut by broken glass is better than that- anything is better than that.

What's that? He doesn't understand what's happening- what is he running from? There's a loud noise not far away- a crashing sound, a breaking sound.

He shivers as he hides in the corner, and the cries become louder and the crashing gets closer. 

Keith is scared, the baby is scared, too- Its cries are so loud that he feels like they may crack his skull- the baby wants its parents.

Keith decides that he wants his parents, too, where are they? Why haven't they come to get him yet- why haven't they saved him? 

It all happens so fast, the figure approaches- the bottle glints as it flies towards him and it shatters with a crash. 

"No!" Keith draws in a desperate breath and protects his face with his hands- but nothing happens. He opens one eye slowly. 

There's a border collie looking at him - it whines a little and places a paw on the cushion next to his leg- the sofa cushion. He isn't in the corner anymore. 

He holds out a shaking hand to the dog and feels a warm, wet tongue.   
"I'm alright, sorry, Rover." Keith brings up his hand and rubs at his eyes, the crying didn't stop- it never stopped.

He looked over at the crib mournfully and debated leaving the baby to cry itself to sleep. 

The thought shocked him, and he hurriedly scrambled off of the sofa and towards the crib.  As he reached into it, the infant held out its arms and Keith cradled it to his chest.  
"I've got you- I've always got you." He wasn't sure if he was reassuring himself or the child- it was probably just hungry. 

As Keith held it and rocked it a little the baby continued to whine, if only a little quieter, so Keith concluded that that was exactly the problem. 

He closed his eyes for a second and then looked pointedly at the small fridge - just an outline in the darkness of his cabin. 

Fatigue was drowning his thoughts like a thick fog, and even the little comfort brought by broken springs of his couch looked inviting. 

"Just give me a minute, Sun-sun." Keith set the baby down onto the cushions and slowly backed away. Rover watched the child like a hawk as he sat on the pillow next to it- Keith was wasn't sure whether the stare was of protection or for the hope it would suddenly turn into something he could eat.

As he began to bring the things he needed out of the fridge, he continued to suspiciously glance back at the child. He had been told that a five-month-old baby wouldn't be able to sit up yet let alone crawl, but Keith wouldn't be surprised if it got up and ran at this point, just to spite him.

The milk was cold; Keith couldn't afford to use electricity for the microwave- he wasn't sure the baby had the capacity to care anyway.

"Move." Rover had the sense to look guilty as he jumped down from the sofa. His vacated spot was a little warm, at least. 

Keith brought the baby into his lap and offered it the bottle. 

He was reminded of the moment a car alarm was cut off; the screeching cries of the baby were suddenly muted by its new interest in the bottle- and the room was engulfed in silence.  

Keith's eyelids felt heavy, but he pulled back his thin rag of a curtain to peek outside. 

He could see the first glimpse of dawn over the horizon, and he huffed in annoyance at once again being awoken so early. 

Keith had yet to think of many things more vexatious than the loud slurping sound of the bottle as it ran dry - apparently so did Sun-sun, as soon enough the bottle was flung dramatically from his lap and bounced off of the sofa and onto the concrete floor. 

Keith raised a brow at it nonchalantly and rubbed at his face with his palm. 

The silence stretched, or at least, by Keith's new definition of the term. Sun-sun was contentedly gurgling occasionally and sucking his fat little fingers, Rover was still watching quietly, and the fridge was humming as it always did. 

He took a moment to listen, however, regrettably the baby's wet chewing soon became irritating and he searched blindly for a pacifier in the creases of the couch.  After coming up victorious he stuck it, gently, in Sun-sun's mouth to replace the fingers and lifted him under his arms. 

Keith held him at arms-length and observed for a minute. The baby fidgeted and looked around, although Keith could swear that he didn't even seem to be _seeing_ anything. 

Sun-sun had inherited his dark curls from Keith's side of the family, the little swirls of hair framed his face and he blinked innocently with his long lashes.

Keith narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah- adorable," The baby made a face at Keith's tone, his little features scrunched and he bounced uncomfortably. "See, I see through your disguise, Satan."  Sun-sun's reply was a discontent gurgle- Keith sighed and placed him in the crib on his back.

He stood at the crib and folded his arms, watching.

Sun-sun returned his gaze, yet most likely without the same level of thought and scrutiny. 

"Sleep!" Keith commanded- the baby's mauve eyes widened a little, and it blinked. " No, don't stare at me, sleep."  Sun-sun waved his chubby arms around and made strange squeaky noises. That wasn't what he was going for.

"Argh!" Keith looked around hopelessly and chewed on his lip ring, his gaze caught on a scruffy purple doll. He retrieved it and placed it next to the baby. 

There was something very wrong with the way that the smiling face of the doll stared back at him as it was grabbed by fat fingers and brought to the mouth of a curious baby.

It watched- it saw into his soul, it knew his every secret.

Keith groaned and ran a palm over his face- he needed some rest. 

He returned to the sofa and wrapped himself in the blanket. The room was quiet again, yet Keith still felt unsettled; something still wasn't right.

Keith glanced to the crib and saw the wide eyes of the doll staring at him through a gap in the bars, well- that was it.

He narrowed his eyes at it and huffed as he turned over- Keith Kogane wasn't scared of some doll.

He could feel a pair of eyes on his back. 

Keith sat up abruptly and searched the room for his dog, but Rover was sat by the crib engrossed in the cleaning of his rear end- it was definitely the doll.

"Yeah right!" Keith grabbed the blanket and pulled it roughly over his ears as he lay back down, he shuffled into the fold of the couch, for warmth.

He had work later on that day and couldn't afford to lose any more sleep.

Keith ran through a list of things he needed to do in his head- including introducing the baby to some form of solid food. 

After what felt like an eternity, he slipped back into sleep under the watchful gaze of a fabric toy. 

 

The next thing that Keith became aware of was the violent vibrations from his phone as it moved from somewhere beneath him- he released a sob into his pillow and rooted around underneath the blanket for the offending object. 

Keith wasn't sure how much longer he could continue like this; the lethargy clung to his joints like chains- willing him to stay and rest a little longer- just a few more minutes.

However, he was clinging to his current job by a thin thread already- he couldn't afford to be late again. 

Keith finally found his shitty flip phone and deactivated the alarm- the blare from the light attacked his eyes and he squinted at the screen - 07:00 AM. 

Perhaps to many that wouldn't be considered early- however, Keith felt like the walking dead as he climbed out of the protection of his blanket and shuffled to the bathroom. 

He looked like a corpse too, Keith noted as he caught his reflection in the mirror- pale skin, black eyes and sharp cheekbones, not to mention his horrendous case of bed-head, the hole in his nose was red and irritated- he sure regretted that one. 

Small cuts and bruises littered his chest from various work and non-work related injuries, and the sweat pants he once could swear fit him perfectly hung low on his hips. Usually, he wouldn't care much for a few scratches, but one looked like it was going to scar over one of his tattoos. He rubbed at his face and groaned weakly.

Keith was the embodiment of fatigue. 

He glared at the mirror and roughly yanked a comb through his hair; he didn't have the will to stand under the cold shower- besides there wasn't much point to having one before he went to work as he would only get dirty again. 

Keith's bathroom wasn't much, in fact, it didn't have a bathtub- so he didn't know why he even called it that. It consisted of a toilet, a sink, and a shower- empty toilet rolls and boxes littered the floor and different kinds of cheap shampoos and baby care products lined the edge of the shower. 

A mess, like his life. 

Without much conscious thought, Keith found himself rummaging around on the floor for his work clothes like he did every morning.

 He found a black t-shirt hanging over his concrete table and picked it up to observe it. 

It looked clean enough. 

He pulled it on and began to step out of his sweatpants, this was when he heard a knock at his door.

Rover's head shot up from his new position on the sofa and he barked once- weakly. 

"Keith? Hey, it's me- open up." Shiro's voice would have been welcoming if it wasn't for his current state of undress. "I'm coming in, don't shoot!"

"W- Shiro Wait!" Keith ran to block the door, but tripped on the cloth around his ankles and landed in an undignified heap on the floor.

He looked up to see Shiro holding the door open and looking down at him in confusion. 

"Okay," Shiro moved passed him, unconcerned, and placed the coffee cups he was carrying down on the table.

"Wow- this place is a mess."  He placed his hands on his hips and scanned the room indifferently. "I thought you said you wouldn't be here for long." 

Keith ignored him and untangled himself from his pants. He wasn't exactly expecting a visitor this morning, but since he brought an offering of coffee he'd let it slide. 

"It's been a month, Keith." Wow, he really didn't want to drop that conversation did he.

Keith glared at Shiro briefly while searching the floor for his overall, what was he- his dad?

"You're like a brother to me, Keith," Oh no, not that line again - he was fed up of that one. "So I can't let you live like this- It's unhealthy, and definitely not suitable to raise a child in!"

Keith grit his teeth; even coffee didn't make up for another one of Shiro's lectures. 

"Keith!" Keith stood up sharply and was prepared to retort when he noticed his red overall in Shiro's arms. He closed his mouth and held out his hand. 

"I know, Shiro," he was close to losing his patience," Okay? It's just taking a little longer than I thought it would to save up." 

"How much are we talking? I'll give it to you-"

" _No_!" The baby began to cry, and Keith caught himself. There was no way Shiro could give him what he needed- it was too much, but Keith wasn't prepared to show how desperate he was, he lowered his voice,"...It's not just that, anyway; I still need to find a suitable place." 

He yanked on his overall a little too roughly and had to brace himself on the doorframe to stay stable. This wasn't Shiro's problem, Keith had no right to drag him into it- besides, Shiro was doing enough for him already by keeping him employed.

Keith still felt angry, "Just lay off, alright? What are you doing here anyway?" 

Shiro had wandered over to the crib while Keith fastened his work clothes, and was waving the doll around in front of Sun-sun. It was the most awkward attempt at baby-calming that Keith had seen in a long time. 

"I was _trying_ to offer a lift, save you some time, right?" Shiro turned to address him, and the doll was tugged from his hands violently by the baby. Shiro pulled his hands back like he was trying to avoid a bite. 

Keith raised a brow, clearly unconvinced. "You just want to see Allura." It wasn't a question, but Shiro answered anyway.

"What? No, I'm just helping out a friend." Keith couldn't be bothered to feel any worse, so he dropped it.

"Is that coffee? Great." He collected the cup that wasn't half-empty and went for the crib. "Come on then, grab the baby bag on your way out. "

"Oh- should I..take that?" Shiro maneuvered around him stiffly and gestured to the cup.

"You think I haven't mastered the art of one-handed baby holding?" He didn't wait for an answer, Sun-sun chirped happily as Keith's arm wrapped around his middle and lifted him to his chest. He left the pacifier in the crib- that was Allura's problem now.

Keith waited for Shiro to open the door and made his way to his huge black and white pick-up truck sat on the edge of the road. Shiro followed him and threw the bag in the back- it contained just about everything essential for the care of a young baby, not like Sun-sun really needed it where he was going. 

Keith heard a soft pat, and looked down at the doll that had fallen in the dust- Sun-sun must have been carrying it. He stared at it for a moment while he figured out what to do. 

He didn't want to ask Shiro, as he'd just claimed that he'd mastered one-armed baby carrying. "Keith?" Shiro was looking at him with a slightly amused expression from the driver's seat- okay, he'd been caught.

"Just open the door." Shiro complied and Keith balanced the cup on the seat, he then opened the door to the back row of seats- where a flowery pink carry-chair was sat; Shiro had bought it due to popular demand.

Sun-sun didn't seem to mind the color; he fiddled with the blanket and bounced excitedly. 

"Stay still, brat." Keith turned back to the doll and looked at it on the ground- it was still creepy. 

He picked it up and wiped it on the greasy leg of his overall before placing it in Sun-sun's lap. 

Keith heard a soft laugh and looked up to see Shiro watching from the front seat. He didn't say anything, though, so Keith huffed and shut the door. 

He picked up the cup and grunted as he climbed into the truck; surely a vehicle this size wasn't practical. 

When the truck didn't seem to move, Keith glanced at Shiro- who was staring out of the window. "You gonna do anything about him?" He gestured outside with a nod.

Rover was sat at the door of the cabin, his tail hit the wall in a rhythm as he waved it expectantly.

"It's fine, I just hope he doesn't run back to the old house again." Keith retrieved his phone from his pocket to check the time, "We should probably get going if you want to talk to Allura."

Wisely, Shiro said nothing to this and pulled out onto the road.  The drive was silent, save from a few gurgles and squeaks from the baby and the occasional slurping sound as they drank their coffee.

 It wasn't much of an awkward silence; Shiro was the only person that Keith felt comfortable enough with to enjoy his presence alone. But then, the argument from earlier felt like a weight on his shoulders- he could tell that Shiro felt the same, too. It wasn't uncommon for them to fall out, but he felt like it was getting worse- he felt more irritable and became angry more easily and this was reflecting in their relationship. 

Soon enough, Shiro's monster-of-a-truck was pulling into Sun-sun's day-care, _The castle of Lions_. It was managed by Shiro and Keith's mutual friend, Allura- she was a strong-willed and independent woman who was more than capable of running a business by herself, yet for some reason, Shiro felt the need to check up on her several times a week. 

Keith grimaced and crossed his arms while he waited for Shiro to navigate the tiny parking area.

 _The castle of Lions_ was what Keith assumed to be a renovated home, after all, Allura still lived upstairs and it was in the middle of a housing neighborhood miles from any other kind of retail or leisure business. 

The pretentious sign at the front and the building's wall had a number of multi-colored lions painted on, they seemed to be displaying some kind of story as they ran around the corner of the house.

Keith always found it strange how you only notice a continuous sound once it stops, but when the engine of Shiro's truck shut off and he was plunged into a stiff silence he realized just how loud it really was. 

He felt reluctant to confront Allura and face another lecture on baby-care, not to mention the inevitable exchange between her and Shiro- but if he had to sit through any more of Sun-sun's obnoxious giggles, he would scream.

As he turned to shut the door he caught Shiro watching him anxiously and furrowing his brow. "Have you lost weight, Kei-" The end of his question was cut off by the slam of Keith's door; he didn't have time for this. However, he replied with a curt "no." when he retrieved the baby from the back seat, this time making sure to secure the doll before it left him in another awkward position.

Shiro was forced into an unhappy silence as he came around to grab the bag, he only gave him a willful stare, almost cold.

The tension was cut by the chime of Allura's door, Keith looked over as she sauntered towards them with confidence and welcomed her distraction, although he couldn't help his frown when he noticed Shiro standing a little straighter at her arrival.

"Hello Sun-sun!" she greeted the infant with a kind smile, and he gurgled at her with an expression that Keith assumed to be something along the lines of mild interest.

"Hey, Allura. " She then looked up at him as if only just noticing their presence- her usual routine.  

"Hello Keith, you're on time today- how surprising." she glanced at Shiro and smiled. "No doubt due to Shiro's assistance." 

Shiro returned a warm grin and handed her the bag, Keith felt his brow twitch. 

"I'll wait in the car, we can talk later if you want, Allura." she nodded at him politely and he returned to the truck. 

When Keith shut the door he was greeted by silence, something he'd thought he'd heard many times that day. But without the constant background noise from a whining baby, it really was quiet.

If he listened hard enough he could hear Allura and Shiro's muffled voices and the distant drone of a lawnmower. Keith was just about relaxed sat in the comfort of Shiro's truck, he almost didn't care how long he took to get back to the car- but despite wishing he could sink into the seat all day and enjoy the quiet- he was going to be late for work. 

A glare was sent Shiro's way as he climbed into the truck; he had the decency to look slightly sheepish, though.

"Don't worry so much, we have plenty of time." Keith didn't care to share his thoughts on that and instead watched Allura as she retreated into the nursery with Sun-sun. 

He couldn't tell what Sun-sun thought about being left in a strange place, mostly because he looked pretty grumpy wherever he was - for a baby, anyway.

Soon enough the truck was heading back into town and Keith found himself wishing that he could swap with Sun-sun; even playing with Allura all day would be a welcome break.

  Keith yawned with such intensity that his eyes began to water and he wiped at them distractedly, catching Shiro's attention. 

"Get enough sleep last night?"He replied with a hum, "You look like you haven't slept in days- I didn't want to say anything, but maybe you could sleep at mine- just for the weekend?"

Keith rolled his eyes. "Shiro, If Sun-sun spends any more time at your house the neighbors are going to explode. I'm fine."

"Why can't you just leave the baby with someone else." He didn't know if Shiro was expecting an answer to that, but he didn't get one.

Shiro had always been overly careful around very young children, he claimed that he didn't want to break them, but he seemed to show even more reluctance towards Sun-sun. Almost like he subconsciously blamed him for what happened.

Keith turned to look out the window and they spent the rest of the journey in silence. 

 

"Fuck!" Keith hissed and pulled his fingers to his mouth, the wrench fell to the floor for the umpteenth time that day- he glared at it accusingly. 

"You alright there, Keith?" Coran managed to sound slightly concerned as he fiddled with the underside of an SUV, yet he didn't let said concern pull him away from his work.

He wanted to crawl into a hole and sleep for eternity.  
"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry- again," Coran glanced at him from his place underneath the car, although Keith was surprised that he could see him over his mustache.

"You know what would do you a favor, my boy?" Keith arched a brow at him,"Some good ole' fashioned rest."

 Keith grunted and retrieved the wrench from the floor. "You know, when I was your age I could live just fine on five hours a night! Course that was when ..." He let Croan's voice trail off as moved around the side of the car; it probably wasn't something he hadn't heard before.

Keith rubbed his brow with the back of his hand, fully aware but uncaring of the black mark it would have left. Being covered head to toe in motor oil was a perk of the job.

They still had a lot of work left to do on this particular vehicle, but Keith was already feeling worn out. 

He could feel the beginning of a headache; he was dehydrated- probably because of all the water coming from his eyes when he yawned. Just on time, another yawn triggered a new wave of water pooling in his eyes- he probably looked a wreck.

Suddenly, a head of ginger hair popped out from underneath the car and stared at him thoughtfully.

Keith blinked at the head suspiciously. "Ah!" he said as if he was trying to pretend that he'd remembered something important. "I've just remembered something important!"

Keith narrowed his eyes. "Well that's it, Keith, I'm afraid we have no choice, you'll have to go home!"He felt a wave of what could almost be described as excitement flow through him; wouldn't it be nice to go home?

However, he shook that thought away quickly, albeit reluctantly. He'd been in that position many times before - just once, go home early and get some rest- and then all of a sudden he's calling in ill every other day and finding it harder and harder to come into work.

Keith furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, here's the thing- I seem to have forgotten to pick up the Dinglehopper from the store, we can't do anything more without it, it's useless!"

He raised a brow. "I know I look tired, Coran, but I still know that a "Dinglehopper" isn't a component in the construction of a car."

"No, it is! It's in the new range from....Dinglehops co. Great stuff!" Coran managed to pull himself out from under the car, all while talking excitedly about his crucial made-up piece."I do insist Keith, my boy-  I'll give you full pay for the day and you can treat yourself to ice-cream on the way home." 

Despite the fact that Keith didn't eat ice-cream - he was lactose intolerant- he found the offer very hard to resist. If he went home now he could walk by the market on the way back and pick up some sweet potato, perfect for introducing Sun-sun to solid foods.  Also, it was still sunny outside-unlike when he usually went home- and he felt like he could do with absorbing some sun for a while.

Keith knew exactly what Coran was doing- trying to be kind- and subtle, but that wasn't working for him. However, he didn't know just how much that could backfire. 

Coran had obviously assumed Keith's long silence to be acceptance and was pushing him towards the door with hands on his shoulders. 

"I'll see you on Monday, have a good weekend!" The door was pulled shut with a painful screech, and Keith was left outside staring at the garage's sign with a small wad of cash in his hand.

The neon light from the sign pulsed, and frankly, it made Keith sick. It spelled in bright pink- _Coranic's mechanics_ , which never really made sense to Keith anyway- unless that was Coran's full name.

He wouldn't be surprised it was just something Coran had made up.

Keith turned around slowly and then realized his biggest problem. His bike wasn't there; he'd gotten a lift from Shiro.

He sighed, but really he didn't mind all that much- a walk in the sun wasn't something he was particularly against.

The street was....silent. But it wasn't, he could hear the drone of cicadas, and the occasional whir of a car as it passed. Perhaps he was so used to such a horrendous amount of noise that anything remotely quiet seemed like silence anyway. 

Keith found the lack of children outside unsurprising, but it still irritated him- children were so transfixed with their computers that they took good weather completely for granted. He wasn't going to let Sun-sun do that to his childhood. 

That was a long time away, though. And when each day felt like an eternity Keith couldn't even begin to imagine looking after an older child- one with attitude.

Sun-sun may be annoying to care for, but at least he didn't try to run away when he had his nappy changed, or cry and fit when he needed a bath.

Keith felt dread, and an impending sense of hopelessness - if he could hardly manage now, what was going to happen when Sun-sun grew older? He felt lost and tired and constantly defeated, he wanted someone to help him. But Shiro, Coran, and Allura were all doing so much for him already- as much as he wanted Shiro to be his knight in shining armor, that definitely wasn't going to happen. 

Keith had changed his mind; having so much time to think to himself was decidedly a very bad idea.  

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ 

Lance was bored, again.

He flipped the pencil around his fingers with extreme skill- however clearly the girl sat next to him couldn't recognize talent if it slapped her in the face, as she didn't even spare him a glance and was instead watching the professor and whatever boring demonstration she was giving.

He sighed dramatically and pulled his phone out from under the bench.

_July 2nd_

_04:45 PM To Hunky boi: U still_

 _04:45 PM To Hunky boi: up 4 2nite????ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ_

He didn't have to wait long for a reply.

_04:46 PM From Hunky boi: Yeah man, I'll be at yours for eight._

_04:46 PM To Hunky boi: Cool bring Pij!_

_04:47 PM From Hunky boi: For sure._

Lance was looking forward to the weekend; he'd had a busy week.

He'd planned to hit the town with Hunk, and possibly Pidge, getting wasted was his top priority for the night. 

He wouldn't say no to some lady love either, although Pidge tried to slap him whenever he called it that.

Another night to put on his long list of awesome college memories.

A loud yawn tore through him and a couple of the nearby students glared at him for creating so much noise. He ignored them and studied his nails- they could do with filing, perhaps another layer of varnish, too.

The familiar buzz of students leaving their seats informed him that the lecture was finally over, and he quickly gathered his things before shooting down the aisle and out of the door.  

It wasn't that he was particularly disinterested in mathematics, but really he was only taking it because it was a requirement of his course- he preferred to study in the quiet at home(if he could find any), or with Hunk's help. Also, it was the last thing on a Friday. 

Lance was currently studying aviation and aeronautical engineering in the hopes of becoming a pilot- it was something that he had wanted to do since he was very young.

The sun was intense and Lance brought a hand to his hair to bring down his sunglasses as he bounced out of the door. His pride and joy sat waiting for him in the car park- a pale blue Honda S2000.  

"Ah, my beauty, how are you?" Lance kissed the tips of his fingers and brought them to the hood of the car, receiving weird looks from his peers nearby. They would never understand, the pain he'd gone through, the torture, as he waited so long to save up. 

Every penny of his hard-earned money had been spent on this car. She was second-hand, of course, and he'd only managed to find her through a friend of his - but she was his.

Lance slid into the cool interior of the car and rolled down the window, she hummed to life and he fiddled with the radio to find the right station. 

For a moment, Lance sat and enjoyed the breeze on his skin while he tapped a rhythm on the side of the car door. He felt a range of positive emotions, Relief- he was finally free from the stress of schoolwork. Excitement; he was looking forward to the weekend. 

But mostly just a general feeling of contentment- there weren't many things that he was worried about, perhaps a little anxiety about his duty at home- but he always felt a little anxious about something. 

As far as things went for Lance, he was at a point of particular balance. 

Once he felt that he had thoroughly contemplated, lance pulled his car away from the sidewalk and made his way to the road. Two girls were walking across the junction, and Lance made a distinct effort to pull down his glasses and wink at them as they passed. 

Their giggles and burst of chatter served to fuel his ego, and Lance tore down the street with as much noise as he could muster. He grinned wildly as the wind brushed through his hair, but reigned in his speed as he approached a set of traffic lights, Lance checked his watch impatiently- he had ten minutes to get home if he wanted enough time to get ready.

 

Lance prodded his belly in the mirror, was he getting fat? The abs he worked so hard for disappeared so quickly, Lance grit his teeth as he felt the familiar tug of anxiety in his stomach. 

It was routine, get out of the shower and scrutinize your body for a while, then you can get on with other things.  He turned a few times trying to get different angles, but only huffed and threw his towel over the corner of the mirror- he'd just have to find a top that was a little on the looser side.

Lance rummaged around in his messy drawers for something that could work- perhaps a checkered shirt and skinny jeans, after all, his stomach may have been a problem but Lance knew his legs were a gift from god.

Lance's thoughts were interrupted by the crash of his door against the wall. He screamed and braced his hands in front of him to try and save his dignity- leaving the towel on the mirror had been a bad idea. 

"Mia! What the heck?" Lance  pulled the towel off of his head to wrap around his waist as he chided his younger sister, "Get out!"

"Ewww! Lance is naked!" Mia alerted the rest of the household, "I can see his peepee!"

Lance's face burned and he groaned at the intruder, who held a crayon drawing in her hands- forgotten to more interesting developments. "No you can't, go away!"

His sister ignored him in favor of jumping onto the bed and giggling wildly, she thrust her drawing at him and grinned. "I drew Saffy!"

Lance eyed the gray blob on the paper, he wasn't really sure what he was looking at and was glad she had clarified. He could just make out what he guessed was a tail and a few whiskers protruding from the blob, also a tiny line of purple on the edge of the paper; it must have been a mistake.

"Looks just like her, Mimi." he said it with no real conviction, but that went unnoticed at nine years of age. 

Mia grinned and waved it in his face. "For you!"

Lance groaned, internally, but took the drawing from her and pinned it to his corkboard anyway, it covered a few other drawings and pictures on his already full board;  he couldn't bring himself to throw any of them away.

"Thanks, can you let me get dressed n-" A second figure launched itself onto the bed, Lance pinched the bridge of his nose and tapped his foot.  Of course, anywhere Mia could be found, Matias was sure to follow.

Lance ignored them and maneuvered a pair of boxers on underneath the towel- a skill that he had perfected with constant practice. He chose the darkest of his four skinny jeans, the ones with the holes, and tugged them on quickly- jumping around his room with the effort served to amuse his siblings greatly.

He heard a number of shouts from someone outside and the horrendous thud of a teenager running down the stairs. Also, crying, was that crying?

"Lance, can you take the garbage out?" A yell from his mother, Lance muffled a scream and tugged at his hair with his hands; couldn't they leave him alone, just for a minute?

"Just a minute!" Lance swatted at the twins on the bed with his shirt and left his room. Out of the pot, and into the fire.

A frantic moving object crashed into his shins and he watched a small child run after it down the hallway. "Theo, please don't chase the cat!"

He tackled the Lego-covered-stairs with grace and yanked his arms through his shirt, narrowly missing his brother's face as he ran by.  
  
"Ow! Mama, Lance hit me!" The accusation was punctuated by a mischievous tongue pull as he disappeared out of the back door.

"Lance, don't hit your brother," Lance let out an undignified squawk as he heard laughing outside, "And don't flip him off either, I saw that young man!"

Lance didn't have time for revenge, he'd think of something later. 

He was attacked by the sudden smell of cooking vegetables and the sound of sizzling as he pranced into the kitchen- he hoped that he had time to eat some before he went out.  
"Smells nice, Dad." He received a tired nod in response from his father stood at the sink, Lance almost considered giving him a hand, but he was late already.

The trash-bag didn't put up much of a fight as he pulled it out- it could have waited at least a day before it really needed to be emptied. Lance hauled it through the house with a huff and pushed the door open with his nose.

"Lance, do your buttons up properly, my word."  He growled in frustration as he passed his mother sat on the front porch.

"Anything else, Ma?" He immediately regretted his tone.

She raised a single brow and placed her empty glass down on the tile. "Well, since you asked so nicely, the cars all need washing at some point this weekend."

"All of them?!" Lance bristled, she couldn't actually be serious.

"Yes, why not, your sister mentioned something about her brakes making strange noises, too. Perhaps you can look at it for her?" And with that, she returned to the house to harass someone else.

That was his weekend ruined, Lance stood in shock for a moment before he remembered he had plans and continued to drag the bag down the driveway. He didn't have the time or patience to wash so many cars- why was it even necessary in this kind of weather? They were bound to get dusty again in days.

Lance made a headcount- the family car, his mother's work car, one of his sister's and one of his brother's cars, although perhaps he could get away with that as his brother wasn't staying long. His own car didn't really need washing again, but overall that was at least three cars.

He stood hunched at the end of the path, perhaps he could get Hunk to help him?

Lance pulled out his phone, "Ah, shit!" He had twenty minutes to get ready.

 

Loud was an understatement. The noise in the club could easily drown out his siblings on a Monday morning- the music was close to bursting his eardrums and the people were screaming and shouting.

Lance's eyes shot around the room; apart from the many different kinds of people and conversations- the lights were particularly interesting. 

He clutched the three rum-and-cokes to his chest and pushed his way through the crowd towards Hunk and an uncomfortable looking Pidge.  
"Here, something light to start you off." He placed the glasses on the table.

"You know this is illegal, right?" Pidge picked one of them up and sniffed its contents, "Besides, I'd rather not fall to your level and concur to society's explicit expectations of youth."

Lance laughed and leaned against the table, "I'm not really sure what you just said, but jee Pidge, live a little! No one's gonna know."

Pidge sipped the drink and grimaced at him. "This is gross, and you're intoxicated already, why did I agree to this?"

Hunk had already drank half of his, "Because even though you're still a baby, you're a Uni student now! Gotta live like one, too."

"I resent that term, Hunk."  
  
Lance squeezed into the booth next to Hunk and put his feet up onto the metal bar. He scanned the crowd quickly and caught the eye of a girl and her friends sat at the bar, he waved at them and laughed when they exploded into giggles.

"Ugh, please don't do this to me again." Lance appreciated Pidge's thoughts on the matter.

"Please, Pidge, nothing can keep me from wooing the beautiful women here tonight." If Pidge's facial features could twist anymore they would morph into one.

"Aw, If you keep pulling faces like that it'll stick." Lance downed the rest of his drink and slammed the glass onto the table, "Now, please excuse me."

Hunk and Pidge watched Lance spring across the room and shared a look of fond yet irritated exasperation.

 

Two polite rejections and a number later, Lance grinned triumphantly as he clung to Hunk's arm.  
"She was British, Hunk - _British!"_ Hunk grunted as he hauled his friend out of the door and into the cold night air. "And she gave me her number! Maybe she knows the queen."

Pidge snorted loudly. "Yeah whatever Lance, not every British individual knows the Queen of England, besides, she probably gave you a fake number."

"Aww, you're just jealous, Pidgey." Whatever undeniably witty retort Pidge was going to respond with was cut off by a loud crash from the adjacent parking lot.

The three of them shared a look before Lance released Hunk's arm and flung himself gracelessly onto the floor by the wall. 

"Lance, what the fuck was that supposed to be?" Pidge didn't have the energy to laugh but instead hit the record button for later reflection.

"I was trying to ninja roll." Lance didn't seem phased, he crawled along the ground with barely contained energy and stuck his head around the corner. "Hey, it's Shiro!"

Hunk and Pidge looked to each other in mutual confusion. Lance gasped, "And bad guys, we have to save him!"

Lance couldn't make out much in the dark, but he could see that Shiro was in some sort of a fight with a few tough looking guys in black.  "We can totally take them!"

It was then that Lance noticed another figure, they were slinking around close to the walls and approaching with speed.

"No way!" Lance clenched his fist as he recognized the arrival, "Oh he is _not_ going to beat us in there, that guy is always trying to one-up me."

"Who is it?" Hunk called after him as he shot off across the car park.

"Keith!"

"Who?" Pidge exclaimed in confusion and watched as Lance Naruto-ran towards the group.

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, I'd recognize that mullet _anywhere_." 

"Who's Keith?" Pidge groaned as the question went unanswered and reluctantly followed them across the lot. This was really happening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Tickles and Baby giggles

Keith could have laughed at the sickening crack he heard when his fist collided with a jaw, he could have, but he was too busy avoiding the steel pipe-end as it soared through the air.

"Keith!" Shiro didn't sound relieved, but really he should have been- he couldn't handle four thugs by himself.

Keith grabbed the pipe and yanked it forward, the girl on the end swore loudly just before her forehead collided with his. Apparently, his head was harder than hers.

That was two down- two to go.

He bit back a yell as a punch connected with his eye and his legs flew out from underneath him, the gravel rooted into his skin and he coughed weakly. Motherfucker. 

Ever his brother in arms- Shiro planted a kick into his attacker's groin, sending him hunching over and crashing head first into a nearby car.

Keith tried to get up quickly but was unable to stop the thug from turning around and tackling Shiro to the floor.

He mustered as much strength as he could to kick the man off of him but looked up to see the fourth thug holding a bat over his head, Jesus- that was going to hurt. Keith brought his hands up to shield the blow but instead was surprised to see the bat wrenched out of their hands and sent flying across the parking lot.

The interruption was followed by a well-placed kick to the temple and the thug fell limp to the floor.

He stared in shock at the newcomer in the dim lighting of the street.

"Who are you?" They looked offended, was Keith supposed to know this guy? And was he drunk?

"Who am I?" Keith blinked him, "Uh, the name's _Lance_."

Shiro's groan interrupted them from the floor, Keith bent down to help him up and _Lance_ braced him on his other side.

"We were in the same class at Garrison?" Keith bit back a groan, he didn't want to talk about that.

"Really, are you a...engineer?" Lance had the audacity to look miffed.

"No, I'm a pilot! We were like rivals, you know -Lance and Keith, neck and neck." Now that he thought about it- his irritating attitude rang a bell. Not that he wanted him to know that; he was done with that conversation.

"Right, whatever." Keith paused, he didn't really know where Lance was leading him with Shiro and two other people were now blocking their path. "Uh."

The one stood in front of him looked like a tanned version of the Hulk- Keith wasn't sure if he could take him on.

"Hi, Keith." Oh, he was supposed to know this one now, too.

He didn't know if he was just being forgetful because of the series of blows to the head he'd just received, or because he was subconsciously blocking memories from Garrison University from his mind.

Keith looked to the third person, was he supposed to know them as well?

"Who _are_ these people, are you guys in trouble?" Clearly not, "I'm telling you now, my record is clean- I'm not getting involved with your shady business!"

"Oh come on, Pidge, they're perfectly friendly," _Pidge?_ What kind of a name was that? "Or, at least Shiro is friendly." Lance gave Keith the side eye, how immature.

"How do you know Shiro?" He couldn't even begin to consider letting them take him anywhere, not unless they explained themselves at least.

"Hey, we're buddies, he helped me out a while back, you know?" Right, who hadn't Shiro _'helped out a while back_ '?

Clearly, the skepticism showed on his face.

"Look, obviously you can't take him anywhere with that bike of yours, " The big one spoke up, how had he noticed his bike? " I brought my Jeep, how about we give you a lift, that's all- to your house, or just anywhere safe. There seem to be people after him."

He seemed nice enough. "Okay."

"Alright! I parked over here."  Keith and Lance managed to haul Shiro into the back of the bulky yellow jeep, despite Lance's clear over-indulgence in alcohol; he could smell it on his breath from a person's width away.

Keith wrinkled his nose and reluctantly got in the car. Lance was eyeing him across the seats, and he'd left his bike- but he wasn't about to leave Shiro with strange people.

"Head out of town." Keith directed the Hulk when he glanced at him in the mirror. 

"Out of town?! Holy crow, he's trying to abduct us!"

"Oh cool, is that where your drug business is?"

"Which side of town, you live out there?"

The car erupted into noise all at once and Keith felt a vein throb in his forehead.

"Shut up and trust me!" He ignored Lance's glare, "Go west."

The small person in the passenger seat- Pigeon? Whatever their name was- was fiddling with a G.P.S stuck to the dashboard. "You won't find it on there."

"Believe me, I can find _anything_ on here." Keith didn't reply to that.

 

After five minutes of awkward silence and the occasional groan from Shiro, they finally pulled up outside of the cabin with little direction- maybe Pigeon really had found it.

The engine shut off, and the four of them were left sat listening to the sound of barking from outside.

"That dog is going to eat us."

Keith huffed and opened the door, he let his knees hit the floor and held his arms out as Rover charged at him, his tail wagging furiously.   
When the dog licked his face rather than attempting to eat it the others managed to find the courage to leave the vehicle.

Pigeon looked around, "Wow, this place sure is isolated."

"The perfect base for an evil mastermind." Keith ignored Lance's comment and pulled out his keys.

"Please don't tell me you actually live out here, man." The big one was picking at the windowsill and examining the dust and dry paint left on his fingers.

"It's temporary- help me bring Shiro inside." The door swung open with a creak, Keith glanced in quickly and switched on the light before returning to the jeep. Pigeon immediately filled his space and wondered into the cabin.

Getting Shiro out of the car was harder, but he seemed to be somewhat more aware of his surroundings now and attempted to hold himself up as they led him into the house.

"Oh shit, there's a _baby_ in here!" A squawk from Pigeon alerted the others to Sun-sun's presence and they all filed in like sheep, leaving Keith to get Shiro onto the couch.

They swarmed the crib like flies, and Keith felt immediately defensive. On the other hand, Lance had the nerve to look angry.

"What the cheese, you jerk, you can't keep a baby in this shit-hole!" His point was underlined when Sun-sun began to cry.

"Get away from him!" Keith left Shiro to sit on his own and pushed through to pull the baby out of the crib. Sun-sun clung onto his shoulder and his cries stopped suddenly as he turned to acknowledge his unexpected audience. He watched them quietly whilst sucking on his thumb.

Lance and his friends, on the other hand, were not so quiet.  
"This place is a mess, asshole- how can you expect to make a kid live here!?"

"Yeah man, not to mention you went out _clubbing_ and left it here?"

"Well what did you expect, he's clearly some kind of gangster."

Clearly, Keith's cornered vibes were spreading, as Rover began to bark, which then caused the baby to break out crying again. There was only so much stress he could handle before he snapped.

"Just shut up!" The yell startled everyone into silence, even Sun-sun looked shocked. "Thank you for helping with Shiro, but get out! Now!"

Apparently, Lance couldn't stay quiet for long and only replied with equal volume, " Fuck that, I'm not leaving this kid here with you- I'll call social services if I have to!"

Keith backed into the corner and Lance Looked at the dog with venom as it began to growl at him. This couldn't be happening, Sun-sun was going to get taken away and thrown into the same repetitive ditch that he'd grown up in.

He couldn't do anything; Lance was right- the cabin was a shitty place to raise a child in and the authorities wouldn't give it a second glance before ripping Sun-sun away from him.

He could feel tears of frustration welling up in his eyes and his back hit the wall, Sun-sun had tucked his head into the crook of Keith's neck but was otherwise eerily silent.

"Please, just leave us alone." He wanted to be angry, he wanted to shout at these strangers who had come into his house and then threatened to tear it apart, but really he was just scared.

This made them pause, and the other two shared a look of hesitance, but Lance only narrowed his eyes.

"Don't think I'll fall for that, you asshat, what's in it for you, huh-"

"All of you- knock it off, right now!" Lance's vicious remark was interrupted by a deafening yell from Shiro as he stood from the couch, he held a hand to a cut on his forehead and looked at them all with reproach. "Whether or not Keith can take sufficient care of a baby isn't for you to decide, Lance."

Lance shut his mouth with a snap at Shiro's words but didn't look any happier.

"Besides, this whole situation can be explained." Shiro lowered himself back onto the sofa with a wobble and Rover snuffed at his hand resting on the cushion. "Look, this wasn't supposed to happen, it's all a bit of a mess."

Keith decided to trust Shiro to defend him-  he was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion after the relief of his interference.   
His back slid down the wall and he hugged the baby between his bent legs and chest in the corner-  Sun-sun's features were scrunched in distress and he waved his arms around violently.

"Things happened, _really bad_ things, we're still trying to recover from it all. They haven't been here for long, a month at the most." Shiro looked to Keith for reassurance, but he was too busy watching the strangers that were invading his house. They seemed to be listening, at least- they were observing Shiro with interest.

"Once he gets back on his feet, he'll find somewhere better to stay." Keith felt like if he said anything in agreement to that he'd be lying, but it wasn't like that wasn't what he wanted, "There's nowhere else that's better for that baby right now, because there's no one else on this planet that loves him as much as Keith does, even though he likes to pretend that's not true."

Keith looked up at Shiro sat on the couch- he had no idea that Shiro felt that way.  
He caught Lance's eye as he looked away and kept his gaze neutral as he waited for him to attack again.

"And how do you explain leaving him here unattended?" He had lowered his voice, but his fists were still clenched at his side."How often does that happen?"

"Today was an emergency, Keith came to help- couldn't have been away for more than twenty minutes. And usually, the baby is with a friend when he's away." Keith felt a little bad letting Shiro answer all the questions, but he was a better talker than him anyway- Keith would just make it worse.

The room stayed silent while they contemplated, Pigeon was the first to speak.  
"Hey, I'm sorry man- I don't really think that you're a gangster." Keith furrowed his brow in confusion but nodded anyway.

"Yeah bro, sorry for assuming you weren't taking care of your kid." The Hulk rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with his hand to match his sheepish expression. 

"Thank you...uh?" Shiro seemed to be glad that they were cooperating.

"I'm Pidge."

"Hunk."

Keith would have laughed if he wasn't so fed-up - these people had ridiculous but undeniably suiting names. Shiro looked up at Lance where he was stood in front of him.

Lance crossed his arms and looked anywhere but at Keith. "Yeah, whatever."

Shiro seemed to accept that that was the best he was going to get and flopped backward onto the couch.

"Right. Good. Christ, my head hurts." The three of them had the sense to look a little guilty at this, and Pidge sat next to him on the sofa.

"Yikes, I'm not really in with the medical stuff, but I can help with your head if you'd like?" Shiro nodded and Pidge turned to look at Keith. "You got a medical kit?"

Keith's brooding aura was ruined when Sun-sun squealed loudly and pulled on his hair, "Ow-" He pushed him up to sit on his knees. " Under the sink."

He was only a little concerned at the creak the sofa made when Hunk sat on it; a broken sofa wouldn't really make any difference to him. "So, who were those guys, I assume they weren't friends of yours?"  
  
Shiro let Pidge dab at his head while he turned to address him, "No, they really weren't."

Lance took to exploring the cabin, clearly still uninterested in joining in. Keith could only glare at his back as he disappeared into the shower room; couldn't he just sit quietly for a minute?

"Uh, it's a long story really." Pidge blinked at him and pull shoed-feet onto the sofa, they had all seemed to have forgotten that someone was trying to live in that cabin." Alright- he used to live in our neighborhood when we were kids, Keith and I got into fights with him all the time."

"He?" Shiro backtracked at Hunk's sudden question.

"Oh right- the guy that runs the show, he likes to think of himself as some kind of mafia boss, but really he just recruits delinquent children and sends them round to beat people that he doesn't like. I happened to have pissed them off." Pidge and Hunk nodded like that was a problem they encountered often.

"Right, I see what happened here." Pidge brought a hand up to use as a chin-rest and stared at Shiro meaningfully. "You know what that means, right?"

"Aw sweet, time for some...sweet revenge!" Hunk seemed unfazed by his awkward choice of wording.

Keith rolled his eyes and left them to discuss- he didn't have time to go mess around with Sendak and his group of thugs, that was a problem best left alone.  He bounced Sun-sun on his knees and played with his chubby hands; mostly to stop him from pulling on his hair.

The baby had magically recovered from his earlier upset, in fact, he seemed almost happy being thrown around on Keith's legs if his high-pitched squeaks were anything to go by.

Keith stopped suddenly when he noticed someone sliding themselves down the wall next to him. He looked up at Lance, who had his eyes transfixed on the baby.

They both sat watching him gurgle for a while before Lance spoke. 

"What's his name?" It was quiet, and he still refused to meet his eyes, but Keith didn't feel that he was being particularly aggressive.

"His name is Sun-sun," Keith replied, Sun-sun giggled in agreement, Lance hesitated.

"Soon-soon?" This time he did look at him, and Keith felt the corners of his mouth twitch fondly.

"Sun-sun. I didn't choose it."  Lance nodded slowly and pondered his next question.

"...The mother?" Keith's smile fell; that wasn't something he wanted to talk about with Lance.

"Yeah, she chose it." Lance seemed to pick up on his dismissal and changed the subject.

"...How old?" He faltered a little before reaching out and squeezing one of Sun-sun's hands.

"Five." Lance nodded, obviously he knew that he was talking about months rather than years.

Sun-sun wrinkled his nose, clearly catching a whiff of alcohol from Lance's breath. Keith snorted when Lance feigned offense and breathed into his hand- it looked like Lance was good with children.

"Do you have young siblings?" Lance considered him for a second before answering, seemingly thinking about why he'd asked that, unless he actually wasn't sure if he had young siblings or not.

"Yeah, well- they were really young at one point. Now it's the nieces and the nephews that are the youngest ones." So he had a big family, Keith wasn't sure whether he felt envious about things like that anymore- family had only ever caused him trouble in the past.

"Cool." Keith was happy to fall into silence at that point, but clearly, Lance had more questions.

"Does he like being held?" Keith watched Sun-sun, he was sitting silently on his knees and watching Lance fidget- he really didn't like sitting still.

"Yeah, I gue-"

"Can I hold him?" Keith hesitated; he still felt unsure about Lance, but he wouldn't get far if he decided to run out the door with him anyway.

"Sure." Lance reached out to lift the baby under its arms and brought him into his lap. Sun-sun looked dismayed at being given to a stranger and his eyes widened comically, accentuated by a sharp unintelligible grunt.

Lance laughed and let him settle in the hole between his crossed legs. "I know, I'm sorry- I forgot to shave before I came out. It must look horrifying."

Keith stayed quiet and picked at the dry blood on his hands- a shower was definitely overdue now. Lance continued to talk with the baby.

After a while of tickles and baby giggles, Lance directed another question at Keith.

"You're not worried about that whole gang thing?" Keith looked up at Shiro, who was still attempting to dissuade the others from getting involved.

"Nah, it's nothing serious." Keith thought about whether he wanted to go into any more detail than that with Lance. "...Knowing Shiro, he probably saw a group of people loitering in the parking lot and wisely decided to give them an earful about delinquent behavior."

Lance snorted, "Yeah...How did you know to go and help him?"

"He texted me saying that he was going to be late." Lance blinked at him, clearly expecting more than that, but Keith said nothing else.

Keith didn't know why Lance was suddenly so interested in talking to him, but he had a suspicion that it was his way of awkwardly apologizing. Keith preferred people that were more direct.

Suddenly, Sun-sun slumped forwards in Lance's lap. "Aw, he's tired."

"Probably because he was so rudely awoken by someone's yelling." Lance frowned and fiddled with Sun-sun's hair.

"Ah...people say I'm impulsive, and quick to lose my temper and..." He trailed off at the unimpressed look Keith was giving him.

"I think you're stubborn." Keith was itching to remove Sun-sun from Lance's lap and take him to bed.

Lance made a face at him, "Yeah, well I think _you're_ an asshole!" Keith felt like saying something back but stopped when he noticed the baby staring at him.

"Right, well we both have things wrong with us then." He held his arms out and gave Lance a meaningful look.

Lance huffed and looked like he was going to say something, but instead just handed the baby over and crossed his arms.

With some effort, Keith stood from the floor with the baby and approached the crib. Pidge was stood next to it, arms waving wildly with enthusiasm.

"They wouldn't even know it was me, I'm telling you- don't you want to get your own back on this asswipe?" Shiro shook his head and held his hands up.

"Look, all that's in the past, I don't want to start anything now."  Keith could only imagine which stories he'd been telling them. They probably sounded more exciting from Shiro- he was a good storyteller.

Keith sent a glare after Pidge's whine disturbed the baby- how long were they going to stay in his house?

Shiro looked up at him as he moved into the kitchen, where Hunk was snooping around- they really had no thought for his privacy.  
  
"Oh right, Keith- Hunk said he'd take you to go get your bike and come back for the rest of us- that way I can get a lift home and the baby doesn't have to be left again."

Keith faltered while reaching down to refresh Rover's water. Take a ride alone with the big guy and leave Sun-sun here with one obnoxiously loud and one obnoxiously immature stranger?

Keith turned, ready with a polite 'No thank you' when he caught Shiro's intense stare.   
Why did he want him to cooperate with these new people so much? If it was his idea of forcing Keith to make new friends then he'd rather get friendly with people that hadn't insulted his parenting skills and attacked him in his own house.

After a dragged-out minute of Keith and Shiro staring off, Hunk coughed loudly.  
"Well, it's pretty late out, you know- wouldn't want either of you to go walking around in the dark, right?"

Keith gave up, he'd just have to trust Shiro to take care of Sun-sun, God knows how many times he'd left him with him before, anyway. "Right, okay- thank you."

"Not at all man- my pleasure." Hunk fished his keys out of his pocket and sent him a reassuring smile.

Keith directed a worried glance at Sun-sun in his crib and fiddled with his ring between his teeth. 

"It's fine, we'll play charades or something while you're gone." Pidge looked at Shiro like that was a terrible idea, but smiled at Keith anyway. He sighed and followed Hunk out of the door.

 

The ride felt a lot longer than five minutes, in fact, he was sure that Hunk had gone the long way around.

"Do you race with your bike? What kind is it? I don't really know much about bikes." A boring conversation starter.

"I used to, not anymore though." He almost felt like asking Hunk if he did any off-roading with such a built jeep, but he probably just bought it to suit his persona- was that rude? That was probably rude; he wouldn't say it out loud. "It's a Kawasaki ninja."

Keith didn't look for Hunk's reaction, he just stared out of the window at the late night stragglers as they went home.

"Your eye looks pretty bad, you should put some ice on it or something when you get back." Keith brought a hand to his head and grimaced at the blood that he pulled away- he hadn't even noticed the pain with all that was going on at the cabin.

He didn't reply to Hunk, he just grunted and examined the bruise forming in the mirror. That black eye was going to be a great addition to his look.  He didn't often care too much about his appearance, but Hunk and his friends had immediately assumed that he wasn't taking care of Sun-sun, maybe he needed to dress more dad-like?

Keith cringed.

"I'm sorry about Lance," Keith turned to send him a dubious frown," I mean, I'm not- it isn't his fault. He just has a lot on his plate, you know?"

Keith rolled his eyes and turned back to the window- he had no sympathy for people with 'a lot on their plate', or whatever that was supposed to mean.  
It was no excuse for bad behavior, he would know. If Keith couldn't get away with it, then he wasn't going to let Lance get away with it, either.

To Keith's surprise- Hunk didn't get angry. "Right, that probably wasn't the best thing to say. Uh...he has a reason, for being the way he is, that's all I'm saying."

Keith wondered what they thought his story was, had Shiro told them anything? Although he supposed things looked pretty bad just from what they'd seen already. He didn't like people to pity him, it made him feel weak- he wasn't weak.

The car stopped and Keith noticed that they had pulled up outside the parking lot from earlier.

"Right, I'll see you back at the shack, then." The shack? His house had been demoted again.

"Right." Keith closed the door and wondered into the lot. The thugs from before had gone, they must have crawled away after they had left.

Keith reached his bike, thankfully untouched where he had hidden it behind two dumpsters, and pulled his helmet on. Hunk flashed his lights as he passed him down the road.

It probably wasn't a challenge, but Keith wanted to race, anyway.

He jumped onto the bike and sped across the lot in record time; he knew a few shortcuts that would make up for Hunk's head-start.

As Keith weaved his way through the streets and onto the road leading out of town, he took a moment to enjoy the ride. It was rare for him to get any time to ride his bike unless he was in a rush somewhere- which was whenever he left the house.

But he knew that he could trust Shiro with Sun-sun, and besides, going as fast as he could was the point anyway if he wanted to beat Hunk.

The wind on his cheeks was cold and he pulled his visor down - the deep chill of the night had reached its peak; it was probably approaching one in the morning. His plan for the night had been completely squashed by Shiro's addiction to meddling.

If he wanted to scold kids so much he should have tried teaching.

Keith didn't care all that much though, in retrospect- he'd had a good day. He'd stopped by the market on the way home and bought some fresh sweet potato, which he then cooked and served up to Sun-sun. For a first try at solid foods, Sun-sun had given it his all, but that still meant half of it had ended up down his front.

He had planned to finish the day by sharing a drink with Shiro outside - but that was rudely interrupted by his text message.

Keith was greeted by a bark from Rover as he pulled up at the cabin- it looked like he had beaten Hunk by miles.  
He pulled off his helmet and held a hand out to the dog as he came running, apparently even ten minutes was too much for him.

As Keith was locking his bike away in the shed, he heard Hunk's jeep pull in behind him.  
"Hey you're fast- but I would have won if I didn't have any concern for my own safety like you."

Keith snorted and pulled a tarp over his bike.

Hunk climbed out of his car and pulled open the door to the cabin, Keith followed in behind him.  
  
"I thought I heard the ear-piercing roar of Keith's bike outside." Keith shrugged at Shiro- unfortunately, sound-proofing didn't come with the house.

His gaze landed on the floor, where Lance was sat playing with Sun-sun. He glared,  mostly because he was irritated that Lance had removed Sun-sun from the crib when he shouldn't have.

However, Lance did look a little guilty, so Keith didn't say anything.

Shiro and Pidge were sat having an animated conversation on the couch that he didn't want to interrupt, so instead, he went into the kitchen to get the baby a bottle.

He had spoken with the owner of the stall where he had gotten the sweet potato and had learned that he was actually feeding Sun-sun too much, and also that he should try and fit feeding around breakfast, lunch, and dinner to help enforce some kind of a sleeping schedule.

But that had been completely ruined anyway by recent events; Keith didn't know what time it was but 'a while after bedtime' would be a good guess.

This time he did heat it, to avoid any unwanted comments from Lance.

Keith knew that it was highly likely that Sun-sun had inherited his lactose-intolerance, as his sister was also intolerant, and as far as he knew -so was his father.  Because of this, he bought rice milk instead- which kept for a lot longer anyway and was what he liked to drink.

Not that he drank the baby milk- that would be weird.

Keith's train-of-thought was broken by the chime of the microwave. He brought the bottle over to Sun-sun and Lance - who seemed to be getting on just great.

He felt his brow twitch just looking at them. Lance was tickling Sun-sun's feet and hands and laughing as he giggled and pulled them away. Sun-sun never laughed like that when Keith played with him.

Well, maybe it was because he didn't make a load of stupid noises and ridiculous facial expressions like Lance did.

Keith curled his lip and dumped himself abruptly on the floor in front of them. He raised a brow at Lance and gestured to the baby.

Lance looked between Keith and the bottle. "Can't I feed him?"

"No."

Lance frowned grumpily and let Keith lean over to take the baby. 

"You smell like blood."  
  
Keith adjusted Sun-sun in his lap and gave him the bottle, then he looked up at Lance.

"You smell like alcohol." 

Lance sneered at Keith.

"I don't _usually_ smell like alcohol." 

Keith glared at Lance.

"Well, I don't _usually_ smell like blood."  
  
When would they get the message that he wasn't some thug that liked getting into fights and neglecting babies?

Their squabble was interrupted by Shiro standing from the sofa, they had been completely tuned-out to the other's conversation. "Well, I'd like to get some rest if we're actually going to do this tomorrow.  Fancy leaving Keith to put the baby to bed now?"

Oh, so they had made plans? At least Shiro was good at making friends.  
It wasn't something he wanted to be involved in.

"Sure thing, I'm ready to go- coming Lance?" Hunk pulled Pidge away from Keith's stack of old gadgets and waved at Keith as he left through the door.

Hunk seemed cool, maybe he'd see him again sometime.

Lance grumbled and pulled himself to his feet. "Don't forget to burp him after that."

Keith stuck the middle finger of his free hand up as Lance left- the gesture was returned.

Pidge reluctantly left the broken satellite dish that Keith had on the floor and made for the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow Keith!"  Shiro made a hasty exit and Keith waved his hand nonchalantly as they left.

The door closed with a soft bang. Keith paused and furrowed his brow. Tomorrow?

God damn it- Shiro and his meddling.


	3. I'll see you tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a few changes, I realised that Sun-sun was too young for a car-seat so I've changed it to a carry-chair, and now the twins are nine instead of seven.  
> If you are confused about ages please check out this tumblr post : [ :D ](https://kongyo.tumblr.com/post/159656726297/my-only-sunshine-ages) where I put everyone's ages, including Keith and the others- they've been aged up for this fic.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy this chapter- there's nothing like getting to know Lance's family with a crisis.
> 
> In other words, Lance has a lot of problems and most are caused by his family.

Lance felt _hella_ guilty. And really mad at the same time.

He had literally forced a grown man into tears and threatened to take away his baby.

What was he even trying to do?  
Keith Kogane had one hell of a bad-boy vibe, but since when was Lance such a stereotyper?  
God, he was such an asshole.  Lance slapped himself on the forehead as he sat in Hunk's jeep on the way home.  
It didn't help that he was sitting next to Shiro, who glanced at him with concern, what did he think about it- was he mad? Disappointed? Or did he expect that from him?

Lance didn't stop to think for a second that there was some kind of reason for the state Keith and his house was in. He'd just assumed that he was abusing drugs and getting into fights and kept his baby around for some kind of benefits system.

He just wanted to hate him, because of who he was- or who he _had_ been.

Lance grit his teeth and dug his nails into his palm.

The guy was a fucking prick though;  somehow he found every way to grate on his nerves.  
He just had to provoke him, he didn't know why. 

But he'd over-reacted. Lance was expecting him to retaliate - but he had just started _crying._    
And honestly, knowing that he was the reason for the tough-looking guy in a tank top covered in piercings and tattoos and that _gross_ -lookingblack eye to back up into the corner like that, clutching a baby in a pink onesie, well that just made him feel like the bad guy in a cheesy comedy movie. 

Maybe he'd laugh about it later, but sat in the car -with the very cause of the encounter sat next to him- he felt pretty fucking guilty.

Lance let his forehead thunk onto the cold glass of the car window.

"Feeling bad about something, Lance?" What? Had Shiro read his mind? He wouldn't be surprised at this point.

"No..." He didn't turn around.

"Keith will forgive you, he's probably more jealous that you got along so well with the baby then angry about anything else now, anyway." Lance didn't respond, he blew on the window and drew an unhappy sun in the mark left behind.

Lance was tired- his night didn't go so well in the end. Being angry took a lot of energy as well.

"Well, we can all make it up to him somehow- opportunities will arise," Hunk spoke up and nodded to himself. Were they actually going to try and make friends with this guy? Lance wasn't going to be a part of it; he'd rather forget that they ever bumped into each other.

When Shiro finally told Hunk to pull in, Lance looked around and noticed the parking lot from earlier. So Shiro lived around there- that made a lot of sense.

"I hope I see you all tomorrow." Shiro smiled at Lance and shut the door- he felt that that may have been directed at him.

They drove in silence for a while before Pidge had to say something.  
  
"Well, that was a mess."

Lance groaned and banged his head repetitively against the back of Hunk's seat.

"Hey don't fret about it, Lance. But you know that going to help him out would solve your problem." Hunk helpfully voiced his thoughts.

"I'm never going drinking again." Lance brought out his phone and illuminated the seats with a dim yellow light. "I'm going to die. It's two A.M!"

Pidge's eyes widened and flicked to the clock on the dashboard. "Shit! I didn't even realize."

"Do you think your Dad will be up waiting for you?"  Hunk kept his eyes on the road but did look a little concerned for his friends.

"Yeah, ugh, I might get my laptop taken away again." Pidge picked at the fabric of the seat grumpily.  
  
"Who cares about that! I'm going to get _murdered._ Killed! D.E.D!"

"That's not how you spell 'dead', Lance. You're twenty-two years old, who cares if you stay out late?" Hunk turned into Pidge's street and looked out the window at the houses to find the right one- allowing Lance to catch his grin in the door mirror.

"This isn't funny! I can only hope that no one wakes up and alerts my mother, otherwise you aren't going to see me ever again!"

Hunk stopped the car outside Pidge's house. Luckily, the light in the front room didn't look like it was on.

"Well, good luck Lance! I sure hope I see you _tomorrow_." Pidge hopped out of the passenger seat and ran around the back of the house.

Hunk leaned over to shut the door and quietly accelerated down the road.

"I'm not going back there." Hunk said nothing, only glanced at him meaningfully in the mirror. "What are you doing, anyway?"

"We haven't decided yet. It's mainly to keep an eye on Sun-sun for him so he can get some rest." Hunk turned to look at him over his shoulder, "It'd be useful if you brought some of your paints and brushes, though."

Lance folded his arms, "You can come and get them of you want- I have things to do."

Hunk turned back to the road and pulled up a few houses down from Lance's.  "...Sure thing, I'll text you in the morning."

Lance glared suspiciously; it was rare for Hunk to drop something so quickly.  But there was no way that Lance would be returning to that run-down excuse of a house the next day. _No_ way.

"...Okay. I'll see you later." Lance climbed out of Hunk's jeep and turned to shut the door.

"Yep, have a good weekend."

"...Okay." Lance squinted at Hunk as he shut the door and walked backward down the sidewalk. Hunk only smiled and waved before shooting off down the street.

Lance was left in the cold darkness of the sleeping neighborhood.  He stood there for a while, preparing for the mess he was inevitably going to walk into.

He looked for any lights as he approached the house and paused suddenly- they were all on? Something must have happened, maybe they had already noticed that he was gone. But usually, his mother would go to bed and pounce on him in the morning.

No, something was really going wrong.

Lance found himself sprinting to the front door and slamming his hand down on the buzzer.

After a while, the door was opened by his younger sister Isabel. "Lance! Daddy, Lance is home!"

Lance placed a hand on her shoulder and moved passed her into the main room.

Most of his siblings were sat on the sofas and on the floor, and he could hear the clinking of china and the hiss of the kettle from the kitchen.  
  
"What's going on?"

Anton, one of his older brothers, looked up at him from where he was sat on the floor playing with the twins.

"Lance, where have you been? Theo's had an allergic episode." Lance's stomach fell- his little brother was in danger. "Ma went with him to the hospital, we're still waiting for news."

He stood at the doorway in shock and brought a hand up to grasp at his hair. "What was it?"

"Peanuts, probably- he got into Francisco's stash." Lance looked over to his brother, who was sat on the sofa with his head down- he must have felt guilty about it. 

But it wasn't his fault; it was Lance's job to make sure Theo didn't eat things that he shouldn't- he should have been here watching him. Instead, he was out with his friends clubbing and completely oblivious to his family's crisis.

"Why didn't you call me? A text at least?"  Anton shrugged.

"I don't know- Mother said not to worry you about it since there was nothing you could do." Lance sat down next to Francisco and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"There is _always_ something I can do, next time you have to call me!"

"If there _is_ a next time." Lance almost didn't catch Francisco's mutter.

"Francis, I swear to god- you _can not_ blame yourself for this, do you understand? Theo's going to be okay." Francisco braced his elbows on his knees and scrunched his hands into his hair- a habit they seemed to share.

"I shouldn't keep nuts in the house."

Lance bumped his shoulder lightly.  
"Hey, you can't not have nuts just because Theo can't eat peanuts, what else are you going to eat?" He attempted to lighten the mood a little.

Francisco snorted but returned the bump with more force. "That isn't even funny, Lance."

They sat quietly for a while and Lance watched Isabel play on her ds and the twins playing snakes and ladders with Anton on the floor- he was jealous; Lance couldn't remember the last time something happened that he couldn't understand.

They probably thought that any minute Theo would be home just like he usually was after an episode, Lance could only hope that that would be true.

"Where's dad, and Lis?"

Francisco looked up and pointed to the hallway.

"In the kitchen."  Lance left him to sulk like a true seventeen-year-old and passed through the hall into the kitchen.

He almost ran right into his sister Elisa, who looked like she was taking out some plastic cups full of Ribena for Isabel and the twins.  She glared at him and walked away.

He turned to his father, who frowned tiredly and rubbed at his face.

"I'm sorry for being so late, Dad, honestly I didn't mean to-" His Dad put his hands out and gave him a meaningful look. Lance still felt like he had to explain, though, or at least make up for it.

"...Are they for Fran and Lis?" He gestured to two hot chocolates sat on the counter and his father nodded at him. 

Lance picked them up and turned to leave, but was stopped when his father thumped his fist against the wood of the cabinet door. He looked back to watch his series of hand movements.

"...Yeah, I know, Dad." Lance frowned as he made his way back to his siblings.

 

Four O'clock in the morning- that was when Theo finally returned home.  
Lance's mother had called an hour beforehand saying that everything was okay, and the horrible tension had left the room like a popped balloon.

However they were ordered to act like nothing was wrong for Theo's sake when he arrived home, so Lance's Dad and Anton greeted them in the hall while the others waited in the living room.

Lance collapsed onto his brother with a sigh. "Well, that's a relief."

"Lance, please don't sit on me!" Francisco hissed at him but remained still, although that may have been because he was pinned in place by the weight of his older brother.

It was easy to keep the twins calm because they didn't think much was amiss in the first place- it was Lance that wanted to go and crush his little brother in a hug when he was led into the room holding his mother's hand.

His mother looked exhausted, it looked like she was the one that wanted to hold hands rather than Theo- but that was most often the case, anyway; he didn't like touching.

"Alright Theo, Say goodnight to everyone. Can you give your brothers and sisters a hug?" Theo watched them all as they pretended not be staring at him.

"Can I play?" He directed his gaze to Anton who was tidying away the board game.

"No, It's bed time now- say goodnight." Theo looked upset and stomped his foot on the floor, but otherwise stayed calm.

"Goodnight." 

Lance dug his nails into his brother's leg to stop himself from flying over and covering Theo in kisses, Francisco returned the grip with equal force on the back of Lance's arm.

His mother turned and directed Theo up the stairs, and Anton followed with the twins.  
Lance narrowed his eyes at Isabel, who was still sat on the sofa with her game.

"Issy." She ignored him. "Oh, excuse me?"

Perhaps his intimidation was lessened by his flailing human seat.  Which pinched him sharply on the backside. "Fu-quiznack!" 

He sprang to his feet and rubbed his ass, Francisco took the opportunity to escape, Lance glared at his back as he thundered up the stairs- that was two reasons for revenge.

"Lance, what's a fuquiznack?" He looked down at his sister, who didn't even bother to look up from her ds to ask.

This was when Elisa spoke up from her place slouched on the bean bag in the corner, he hadn't even noticed she was there. Mostly because she was dressed head-to-toe in black and morphed with the fabric of the bag.

"It's a kind of monster that comes out at night to eat children that stay up passed midnight. Lance screamed because he saw it behind you." Despite it being said in a completely unconvincing monotone- Isabel blanched in fear and leaped from the sofa.

She shot off at the speed of light upstairs calling for her mother and left Lance and Elisa alone in the living room.

"You're not exempt from bedtime either, you know." Elisa gave him the unimpressed-teenage-face™ and went to follow her sister to their room.

"Yeah, whatever."

"I do, because I'm special!" He called after her as she started to ascend the stairs and received the middle finger in response.

Lance stood alone in the living room. It felt like they had been sat in here for hours waiting for news, it had only ever happened a handful of times before but even one time was too much.

Theo's diagnosis had changed their lives, Lance wanted to say that they were handling it fine- he wanted to see Theo's condition as a difference like everyone else told him too.  But, really, he hated it- it ruined everything.

His mother said that she'd never have children again because of it, not like he wanted any more siblings- he definitely did _not_ want any more siblings.   
But the excitement of welcoming someone new into the family was something that he missed.

He listened to the clock tick on the mantelpiece and the thumping of feet on the next floor, he felt well and truly exhausted. But he couldn't have a break now- if the incident had proven anything it was that Lance needed to be around more for his brother.

That was what you did- that was the sacrifice you made when your brother had autism.

 

  
Lance blinked at the pictures on his ceiling.   
  
How could he be _so_ tired, but still unable to sleep?  
  
He dared to glance at his phone and pouted, it'd only been an hour- it felt like longer than that. He began to type out a message to Hunk.

_July 3rd_  
  
05:03 AM To Hunky boi:  Theo had an episode-pnuts.

_05:03 AM To Hunky boi: My family was freeking out,_

_05:03 AM To Hunky boi: & I wasnt even here._

He let his phone fall onto his sheets and turned over, the whole day had been a mess.

Just one huge fuck up, really- if he hadn't gone out then he wouldn't have gotten drunk and ran into Keith and yelled at him about his baby and he would have been around to watch Theo to make sure that he didn't put stupid things in his mouth.

Lance's thoughts were racing, at this rate, he wouldn't sleep at all.

He'd wake up with Theo the next day- which probably meant some time around eleven because he usually slept seven hours maximum- and he'd watch him like a hawk.

He could probably take him down to the studio and work with him on the project they had started- they were trying to build a house with lollipop sticks. It looked awful, but Lance made sure at least half of it was painted nicely.

Although, his mother would probably want him to stay where she could watch him. That was fine, too- he could stay in the living room and play with him in there. Or just watch for a while, maybe he'd sit on the sofa and give his nails some t.l.c.

Lance caught himself thinking too hard again and rolled over.

Usually, when his mind was a mess he'd think about math- he was good at it, but it sent him to sleep pretty(relatively) quickly.

However, instead he found himself thinking about Keith and his baby- that wasn't a weird thing to think about. When you see your ex-classmate living in a run-down cabin out of town and trying to take care of a baby by themselves it kind of sticks in your mind.

What the fuck happened to that guy?

He'd heard that Keith had been kicked out of Garrison for discipline issues, which wasn't hard to believe- but was that the full story?

And that baby was the cutest thing he'd ever seen- Asian babies tended to be pretty cute, though. He could tell that Keith was his dad as well; they had the same grumpy attitude.

However, he did think that was weird; he had always thought that Keith was gay.  
  
In fact, he could have sworn that he'd had a boyfriend when he was at college- they were a pretty big deal, too. Maybe they were just rumors.

He'd seen them around while glaring at Keith, and they looked pretty close, but Lance jumped into Hunk's arms all the time- maybe they were just friends. 

"Fuck." His thoughts had spiraled away somewhere really irrelevant again.

 

Theo was banging his head against his chair repetitively.  
He'd just had his breakfast and was organizing left over cheerios in a line- five to go.

Lance watched every movement. He reached for the next one- no, he was just making flapping movements with his hands.

"Lance, are you serious right now?" Lance didn't look away, but from the shape in the corner of his eye, he determined that Elisa had her hands on her hips.

"What?"   
  
Theo ignored them and continued to line up his cereal.

"Can you at least move somewhere else? You're in the way- I need to use this table for my homework."

"Since when do you do your homework?" 

"Since now, can't you go out with your friends? Your foot-tapping is really annoying." Oh, so that was her plan. He turned to glare at her accusingly.

"Who set you up to this? Ma? Was it Dad?"  Elisa rolled her eyes and nonchalantly looked down at her phone. Lance could hear the aggravating tapping sounds from her nails on the screen.

"Whatever." She turned on her black conversed heel and left.

Lance looked at his own phone when he felt it vibrate in his pocket.

_July 3rd_

_**11:35 AM From Hunky boi: Oh yikes man, is he ok?** _

Lance frowned at the time; it had only been an hour since he started watching Theo- It was supposed to be something like five in the evening by now.

_11:36 AM To Hunky boi: Yeh he's allright now._

_11:36 AM To Hunky boi: Currently  organizing his batalion of Cherrieos._

A few minutes later- Lance groaned at the long text Hunk had sent.

__**11:39 AM From Hunky boi: Oh that's good.  But Lance I know what you're doing right now, you can't punish yourself for this by acting as his bodyguard.  
** You can't give all your time to him, you have school- you have your own life to live. We talked about this before- weekends are Lance time.  
__**You weren't there because you gave yourself the night off, it's not wrong to let your other five siblings watch him once in a while, what else are they even for?**

Lance looked up from his phone after battling through the text. Theo had moved on from the cheerios and was wondering into the kitchen.

Lance got up to follow him.

"Why are you following me?" Crap, he'd been caught.  He couldn't lie to him either, that was definitely not allowed.

"Uh, it's because I think your so cool, Theo.  I'm like the press." Technically not a lie.  
Theo didn't say anything, he just filled his plastic cup with water and held it to his chest with both hands, he probably hadn't even listened to him. 

Theo placed, more like dropped, the cup on the counter without drinking it and approached the fridge.  Lance watched as he arranged the alphabet magnets.

One thing he had come to realize was that Theo's strict routine was interesting only to himself.

Lance pulled out his phone to reply to Hunk.

_11:42 AM To Hunky boi: Six._

_**11:43 AM From Hunky boi: ????** _

_11:43 Am To Hunky boi: Six siblings-_

_11:43 AM To Hunky boi: Anton was here last night,_

_11:43 AM To  Hunky boi: he went home after Theo got back._

Theo had reached 'G' in the alphabet.

_**11:45 AM From Hunky boi: Right, why are you avoiding the subject, Lance? So help me, I will come to that house and drag you away.** _

_11:45 AM To Hunky boi: Not right now,_  
  
11:45 AM To Hunky boi: Theo's just reeched K in the alphabett magnets.

_**11:46 AM From Hunky boi: Oh my god, Lance, I'm getting you away from that child and his insistent organizing- what if he corrupts you!?** _

_11:46 AM To Hunky boi: Hey, U and I both kno,_

_11:46 Am To Hunky boi: That I could do with some organizing skils._

_**11:47 AM From Hunky boi: Can you come with us, please??? It's going to be fun, I'm bringing beer. Sun-sun will have to have yours if you don't come.** _

Ah, Soon-soon- or whatever- now there was one well-behaved baby, why couldn't Lance's siblings be like that?

The best he got had moved out or went around hugging trees in his spare time.

_11:48 AM To Hunky boi: I cant man,_  
  
11:48 Am To Hunky boi: Ma is finaaly spending time with the otherkids  
  
11:48 Am To Hunky boi: Cus I volunteerd to look after him.

_11:50 AM To Hunky boi:....As much as I wana squig that Chinese kid again._

_**11:50 AM From Hunky boi: WTH man he's Korean????** _

_11:50 Am To Hunky boi: oh shit- I nevr said that._

_11:50 AM To Hunky boi: how was I suposed to kno_

_**11:51 AM From Hunky boi: Ask??? Don't assume???** _

_11:52 AM To Hunky boi: Shit ur right._

_11:52 AM To Hunky boi: I wil apoligise next time I see him around._

_11:53 AM To Hunky boi: OH shit Theerp finished the lpahabet gttg hes runin awsy_

_**11:54 From Hunky boi: You're crazy dude, have fun being a shadow.** _

 

Lance's nails were wrecked, he'd dug them into so many hard surfaces while watching Theo go about his boring life that they had given up on theirs.

It would take more than a new layer of varnish to save them.

Theo was currently watching an episode of _Phineas and Ferb_ , an episode Lance had happened to see Mia and Matias watching a week or so ago. He wanted to say he wasn't bored, but he was- so very, very bored.

Lance looked down at his phone when it vibrated.

_July 3rd_  
  
**12:39 PM From Hunky boi: Image received**

Damn it, he did _not_ just do that.

Hunk had sent a picture of him and Keith sat against the wall on his floor. But that wasn't the focus of the picture, the focus was what they were both staring at- that annoyingly adorable angel of a baby sat on Keith's knees.

Lance was holding onto one of the baby's chubby little hands and his Dad had the other one- it looked like a painting of some kind of religious worship scene. 

_12:41 PM To Hunky boi: Ugh._

_12:41 PM To Hunky boi: Whenn????_

_12:41 PM To Hunky boi: whyyyyyy?_

_**12:44 PM From Hunky boi: well, originally I was just trying to document your awkward attempt at trying to apologise to Keith (Which FAILED, btw, you still need to do that), but then you started looking at that baby like it was your son so I thought it'd be good persuasion material.** _

_12:45 PM To Hunky boi: ok sure,_

_12:45 PM To Hunky boi: the baby was cute,_

_12:45 PM To Hunky boi: And I hate 2 subject him 2 Keith Kogane's parenting everyday_

_12:46 PM To Hunky boi: That must b awful.  
_

_12:46 PM To Hunky boi: But Im not gonna choose him_  
  
12:46 PM To Hunky boi: over my brother

_**12:47 PM From Hunky boi: Isn't it someone else's turn to watch Theo now?** _

Lance ignored him and looked over to Isabel, who was sat watching the show next to Theo. She did her best to look after him, but she was eleven years old- you can't depend on an eleven-year-old for anything.

It was getting to the point where Lance couldn't look at one thing for more than a minute, on the upside- he now knew that the living room needed a new layer of paint because of a crack on the upper-left corner of the outside wall. Or would it need plaster? He did know much about architecture.

It was never something he had felt like going into; he was always adamant on becoming a pilot from a young age. Not that architecture wasn't an admirable career path- Lance imagined that whoever designed the white house would be pretty rich by now.  Or dead, probably, no they were definitely dead by now.  
He'd have to look it up.

Lance caught himself as he brought his phone out- what was he even thinking about?  
He was supposed to be watching Theo. It'd only been just over two hours since he'd started watching him and he was already losing it.

His mother sat down on the sofa next to him.

"Lance."  
  
Oh no, that was a bad 'Lance', the kind that meant he was about to get thoroughly told, that or he was going to be subjected to a deep and meaningful conversation about life and where he was taking it- that'd happened before multiple times.

He realized that he hadn't replied and turned to his mother with a smile.

"Yes, Ma?" 

"What are you even doing ?" Hm, so she was giving him attitude- there was no sassy way around that.

"Watching _Phineas and Ferb_." But he could still play dumb.

She paused and observed him for a moment.

"Hunk came around a little while ago, he said that he was going to hang out with Pidge and help out a friend of yours, but you didn't want to come." Well, Keith wasn't exactly a friend, was he.

"Yeah, 'cus I'm busy."

"...Watching _Phineas and Ferb_?" Lance groaned.

"Maaa. _Someone_ needs to keep watch."  She gave him the disappointed head shake.

"And don't you think that that 'someone' should be his mother?"

Lance said nothing and picked at the seem of his sock.

"How many times did you give me a lecture about not giving you chores at the weekend? 'It's your time off', you said."

He thumped his head backward on the pillow of the sofa and rolled it around to look at her. She pinched his nose and he swatted at her with his hand.

"How about you go and hang out with your friends and let me take care of my son?"

He watched her smile at him for a minute, before shooting off of the sofa and making for his room. If he was going out in the sun then he needed to dress to impress.

He sent a quick text to Hunk.

_01:15 PM To Hunky boi: Jesus Christ,_ _Im_ _coming ok,_

_01:15 PM To Hunky boi: Im escaping- u beter not_

_01:15 PM To Hunky boi: have given my beer to Soon-sun._

Well, 'texts', really.

_01:16 PM To Hunky boi: Wat color paint did u need?_

 

Lance loved his car. Specifically the detachable roof- it was a hassle to fasten on and off, but it was well worth it.

He enjoyed the wind in his hair, it gave it the 'wind tousled' look the ladies totally digged. Not that he needed it where he was going.

Why couldn't they go the park or something? They could take the baby with them and leave Keith at home to 'get his rest' or whatever.  
At least then he could wave at girls as they passed with their poodles.

Instead, he was driving out of town to a house in the middle of the desert to look after this asshole's kid.  And also do something with blue paint?  
They better not be painting the house because, A- that shit-hole was way passed saving, and B- he did _not_ have enough paint for that.

Yikes, his car was going to get covered in dust, then it really would need a wash.

He saw a load of cars as he approached, were they having a party?

On closer inspection, it was just Hunk's jeep, Pidge's new green beetle ( _Why_ was it even allowed to be driven yet?), and a huge pick-up truck that Lance assumed was Shiro's.

He made a show of creating as much noise as possible as he pulled in and then cringed at all the dust he threw up.

"Lance, do you mind? You just scared the shit out of the baby." Pidge was the first to welcome him. But he agreed, that was indeed a bad idea- not much worse than cuss words in his opinion, though.

"What, like actual shit? You should probably change his diaper then, Pidgey." He turned the engine off and hopped out of the car.

He stood and observed the situation.

Hunk and Shiro were currently messing around with a strange box-like structure made from wood. Shiro had a hammer in his hand, so Lance assumed that they had made it.

Pidge was sat in a square box on the floor made from bits of wood- the ground inside it had been dug up and raked into sand. A homemade sand-box? That's adorable.

Sun-sun was in the sand in front of Pidge and was rolling around in it, the sand was propelled quiet an impressive distance from his kicks.

Isn't that dangerous? Lance was pretty sure that five-month-old babies shouldn't play with sand, lest they eat some or get it in their eyes.

The outside of Keith's house wasn't a bad set up, really. There was a large overhead section of corrugated metal that served to give shade, a bench that looked like it had survived the apocalypse, and something that looked like another poor attempt at a crib- Keith probably spent a lot of time outside then.

Speaking of, where was that asshat?

He turned back to Hunk, who was leaning backward and stretching his arms over his head.

Hunk smiled at him. "You arrived just in time! We've almost finished."

Lance changed his mind; he didn't want to ask.

"Keith's inside sleeping, you might have woken him up, though."

Clearly changing his mind was pointless, since Hunk could read it.

Lance wondered over to eye the wooden structure that Shiro was hammering, and then realized what it was.

"You're making another crib?"  They had done a pretty good job on it really, it was certainly better than the one that Keith seemed to have built himself inside.

"Yeah man, my Grandpa said we could borrow some of the spare wood from his store, and we looked up a plan online." He patted it proudly, "Now it just needs a bit of personal decoration."

Lance teared up, "Hunk, my angel,"  he sniffed dramatically," You are too precious for this world."

Hunk chuckled but accepted a hug anyway, Lance attached to him like a koala.  
"Wait, personal decoration, is that why you needed my paint?"

"Yeah, we thought a light blue would do good." Lance sprung out of his arms and gave the crib his personal inspection.

"Hmm, yes - blue is always good." He was going to paint that damn crib so well that they could sell it to an art gallery. "Okay, let me get the paints out of the car."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? 6 siblings is too much? Well- That isn't even all of them. hahah.
> 
> This chapter might have been a little bit boring for some, but I felt it was important that Lance's family were properly introduced, since they're such a big part of the story.
> 
> Next time on MoS: Keith has a tantrum, and Sun-sun gets angry.


End file.
